Oieculae knitting machine



(No Model.)

2 s hets-sneet 1. J. C. EGLY.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MAGHINE.

No; 857,472. Patented Feb. 8, 1887.

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WITNESSES:Q

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN C. EGLY, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THOMAS A. PEARCE, OF SAME PLACE.

CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 357,472, dated February 8, 1887.

Application led March i3, 1886. Serial No. 195,149.

To @ZZ whom if may concern:

Be it knownthat I, JOHN C. EGLY, of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Circular-Knitting lliachinespf which the following is a specication.

In the accompanying drawings,Figure l represents a central vertical section through the machine, showing the driving-shaft in eleva'- tion and the needle-cylinder in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the needle-cylinder detached therefrom; Figs. 3 and 9, side and rear views, respectively, of the threadcarrier, the former showing certain parts in dotted lines and the latter representing part of the cam-cylinder in full lines; Figs. 4 and 5, plan and partial side views, respectively, of the ring which surrounds the needle-cylinder; Fig. 6, a front view of the needle; Fig. 7, atop or plan view of the machine, and Fig. 8 a top or plan view of a modification of the ring which supports the needle-cylinder.

In the drawings, A represents the support or frame of the machine; B, the driving-shaft, having a fast pulley, C, and loose one,O, with a belt-shifter, S, of any convenient form. The cam-cylinder E rests upon a ring, q, of. the

f frame A, and is providedaround its lower periphery with beveled teeth, which engage with the beveled gear D, mounted uponthe shaft B.

A shield, U, incloses the proximate face of the beveled gear D, to prevent the Work which descends through the cylinder from coming in contact with the gear. Ihe cam-cylinder E is held downl by the clamping-pieces P, arranged at suitable intervals above its horizontal iiange y.

XVithin the ring q, which sustains the camcylinder, is a split ring, G, supported upon a bracket, H, which in turn is suspended by/ means of a vertical shaft, R, having a screwthread around its upper end. This shaft B rslides freely in a sleeve, A', which forms part of the frame A. The screw-thread upon shaft R engages with a similar thread upon a nut, h, which rests upon the top of the sleeve A.

A collar, t, is clamped around the nut h by means of a tightening-screw, t', and said collar is provided with aspring-actuated stop-pin, I, whose lower end engages with one of the several openingsz in the index-plate T. These (N0 model.)

openings are numbered, as shown in Fig. 7, so-

that the operator may readily set the stoppin in any desired. hole, and for purposes of convenience I provide two movable pins, m, which can be inserted in two holes, so as to limit the range of motion of the stop-pin in either direction,and thus save the necessity of consulting the numbers.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the ring G is suspended fromthenut h, and that by turning said nut in either direction the screw-thread upon the vertical shaft R will cause said shaft, together with the bracket H and ring G, to rise or fall.

The needle-cylinder F rests upon a flange, g, of the ring G, and thus is raised or lowered by the rotation ofthe nut h. The ring G is split upon one side, as shown at a, and is provided upon a portion adjacent to said split with a clamping-screwgj, whose milled head a' is'shown in Fig. 7. When the needle-cylinder F is placed in position upon the iiangev g of the ring G, the screwy is turned so as to clamp the ring securely around the bottom of the cylinder, and thus hold it'tirmlyrin position, no matter what may be the speed of the machine. To accommodate it to needle-cylinders of different diameters, I prefer to construct the ring G, as shown in Fig. 8, with p rojecting radial lugs M, arranged at convenient intervals. grip a small cylinder with firmness and 'obviate the necessity which would otherwisenoccur ofv making the ring G so thick that it would not readily spring or yield to the screw j.

By prviding a set of rings, each of which has the lugs M of a different height from the others, (as indicated on the right-hand side of Fig. 8, M,) any size cylinder may be used; orV the lugs themselves might be built up in pieces secured together in any convenient manner, so that the same ring could accommodate a number of different cylinders.

The thread-carrier -O is mounted upon a vertical strip, L, pivoted to the outside of the cam-cylinder E at Z, and said strip is provided with a transverse slot, p2, through which the stud p projects, said stud having a shoulder, as shown in Fig. 3, so that when the strip L is sprung outward it may be turned radially upon its pivotZ until the edge of the slot is Said lugs" enable the operator to l IOO thrown over the shoulder of the stud p, thus holding it outward, so that the thread-carrier no longer brings thread within the reach of the needles, and the cylinder may be raised. A spring, p', surrounds the stud Z and bears upon the standard'L.

The needle-cylinder F is of lthe usual form; but the needles b are bent laterally at their lower ends, as indicated at b', Fig. 6, so that they are held rmly in the vertical slots of the needle-cylinder by means of the spring thus formed.

This method of construction enables me to substitute for the usual spring-band which surrounds the needle-cylinder and needles a solid ring, d, which is secured in a circumferential groove, n, extending entirely around the outside of the needle-cylinder F. The ring d is constructed in segments, as indicated at Figs. 4 and 5, so that it canbe applied around and within the groove o, the ends of the segments being united by screws w and splicing-piecesu.

The use of a solid ring held positively in position 'around the necdlecylinder and of the spring-shank b'upon each individual needle renders the needles perfectly steady, though free to move vertically, so that no matter at what speed the machine may be run there is no danger of the needles jumping upward nor for the needles Z1. These cams are represented by J K N e a, and are'all fixed, the movable cam f having nothing to do with the operation of the needles in the act of knitting, but being for another purpose,which will be hereinafter explained. f

As will be seen by reference to Fig. 1, the operative camsurfaces are made right and left,

- so that the machine can be turned backward and forward by means of the winch W, to knit heels, &c., in the well-known manner, and since there is nothing left to the uncertain action of springs or gravity in the operation of said cams, (as is the case where movable cams are used upon the camcylinder,) the speed of the machine may be increased to a very highpoi nt. It is this feature of positive action and firm support of the needles which enables me to obtain the advantages I have before referred to.

In order to throw any desired needles out of play, so as to form ribbed work, I provide around the bottom of the cam-cylinder E an interior groove, o', of a depth sufficient to receive the projecting hub c of the needles. The cam-surfaces e n, it will be observed, run down into said grooves r, and the movable campiece f can be turned (bymeans of its shaft f,which projects 'out through the cam-cylinder) into the position indicated by the solid lines in Fig. 1. When it is in this position, if a needle be depressed by the operator until its hub c engages beneath th'e cam f, the rotation of the cam-cylinder E will cause saidneedle to descend until its hub gets entirely within the groove 9', where it will be held and prevented from rising during the operation of the machine. This action will of course draw down the hook of the needle so low as to prevent its By turning the camf into the position indi# cated by the dotted lines in Fig. l, it will be seen that its` point now enters beneath the bottom of the groove r,`so that when, by the rotation of the cam-cylinder E, the hub c of a needle reaches the upper surface of the cam f,

the hub c will rise upon the incline of said cam until it is thrown clear of the groove r, and will be in a position to engage with the operative cam-surfaces, as before. Thus, by turning the movable camf downward, the needles which have been thrown out of play may be again brought into play by the rotation of the cam-cylinder E itself, and vithout the necessity of the operator picking up each individual needle. A needles which are to be thrown out of play (instead of picking them up by hand and throwing them outward, as has heretofore been practiced) I deem a feature of value, since it prevents `the non-operative needles from getting `entangled with the threads and from being in the way of the operator. Y

I am aware that it is not new to support the needle-cylinder in a split ring which can be raised or lowered by turning it upon inclined Moreover, this depression of the surfaces, and I am also aware that it is not new to use a bracket for supporting the needle-cylinder, nor to surround the -needles with a non-elastic band composed of two rings with cut-away portions which can be turned so Vas to coincide; hence I do not claim any of said methods of construction, broadly, but only the particular combinations hereinafter set forth as follows:

Having thus described my invention, I claim in a rotary knitting-machine the following combinations:

l. The combination, with the needlecy1in der, of the split ring G, having a clampingscrew, j, the bracket H, the shaft R, having a screw-thread upon its upper end, the frame having a sleeve in which said shaft slides freely, the nut engaging with said screw-thread and carrying a stop-pin, and the index-plate hav-v ing openings with which said stoppinengages, substantially as set forth.

2. The combinatiomwith the shaft R, cylin der F, bracket H, split ring G, clamping-screw j, and the nut h, engaging with said shaft and provided with a stop pin, of an index-plate izo havingholes with which said stop-pin engages and provided with movable pins m,a'dapted to be inserted in said holes to limit the range of motion of the stop-pin, substantially as set forth. l

3. The combination, with the cam-cylinder havingfthe lower driving-cams, e n, and the groove o', into which the lower driving-cams, e n, lead, of the pivoted wedge-shaped cam f, whose lower surface extends, when said camf is turned up, from a point within the range of the cams e n down into the groove r, and whose upper surface extends, when said cam f is turned down, from the bottom of the groove r to a point wit-hin the range of thecams en, substantially as set forth. Y

4. The oombination,with the thread-carrier having a transverse slot therein, of a shouldered stud projecting through said slot and a spring bearing against the thread-carrier, subze stantially as set forth.

JOHN o. EGLY.

Witnesses:

M. J. OROURKE, HEnRY N. PAUL, Jr., 

